Training: why locksmiths need to stay ahead of the game

Wednesday, 16 April 2014 | Codelocks Marketing

Keeping up with the latest market developments can be a time consuming business. In today’s environment where technology influences all walks of life, Grant Macdonald, Managing Director of Codelocks, looks at why it’s important for locksmiths to stay ahead of the game.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve had over 150 locksmiths attend our free training courses that we run at our HQ in Newbury. The majority leave with new skills and fresh ideas on how to improve the commercial success of their business. As a manufacturer of products, we’ve a lot to gain from the feedback we get when the locksmiths are here, and over this time we’ve built up some great relationships.

Locksmiths have day-to-day contact with end users and by tapping into this resource manufacturers can get valuable insights into the types of applications digital locks are used for. The people who attend our courses range from locksmiths who are ‘one-man-bands’ or run small businesses, to ones that work in larger organisations and are responsible for maintaining the building’s access control. All of the attendees have one thing in common; they understand that in order to remain competitive you have to keep up to date with new products and technology.

There is no doubt that technology is having a huge impact on the range and type of products that locksmiths can specify and it’s for this reason the access control market is such an exciting place to be at the moment. A few years ago if you wanted access control features such asaudit trail orPC-based control, the only option was to install an RFID system or equivalent. Thanks to advances in technology, electronic digital locks are now equally as capable and this presents the locksmith with a host of new opportunities.